


The Place That You Left

by camwolfe



Series: The Water Can't Drown Me [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, M/M, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 06:17:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3279860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camwolfe/pseuds/camwolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky's sister Rebecca disappears one morning. It's pretty stressful for everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Place That You Left

**Author's Note:**

> The dog ended up being named Sergeant, due to the number of votes :)

“No.”

Sergeant stared at him.

“No,” Steve said more firmly. “You have food. Dog food. Food that’s specifically designed for you. Because you’re a dog.”

Sergeant stared at the grilled cheese sandwich Steve was holding and barked again.

Steve sighed. “If I give you part of my sandwich now, then you’ll think you can always have half of my lunch.”

Sergeant laid down and looked at Steve sadly.

“I know Bucky gives you part of his food,” Steve said firmly. “But this human food isn’t good for you. That dog food cost me a lot of money. You should treasure it.”

Sergeant nudged Steve’s leg with his nose. Steve sighed.

“Okay, fine. You can have the crust. Happy?”

Sergeant sat up. Steve rolled his eyes and tossed him the curst of the sandwich.

Steve’s phone rang. He grabbed it from the counter and answered the call, watching Sergeant happily eat the sandwich crust in one bite.

“Hey,” Steve said.

“Is Rebecca there?” Bucky said immediately.

“Hello to you too,” Steve said.

“IS REBBECA THERE?” Bucky yelled, so loudly that Steve jumped and held the phone away from his ear.

“What? No,” Steve said. “Is she supposed to be?”

“Are you sure? Can you check?” Bucky said rapidly.

Steve frowned. “I’m sure, Bucky, I’ve been here all day. Why – “

Bucky hung up.

Steve stared at the phone for a moment, and then immediately called him back.

“I don’t have time – “ Bucky started to say.

“What’s going on?” Steve interrupted. “Bucky, come on.”

“They can’t find her,” Bucky said distractedly.

Steve froze. “What?”

“No one knows where Rebecca is,” he said. “Apparently she went outside for recess this morning and then just… didn’t come back.”

Steve glanced at the clock on the stove. “It’s almost four. You’re only telling me this now?”

“I didn’t know!” Bucky nearly shouted. “My mom went to pick her up from school an hour ago and she wasn’t there, apparently the teachers thought that she’d gone home sick.”

“Fuck,” Steve muttered. “Where are you?”

“I’m at my mom’s house,” Bucky said. “There’s police everywhere, they’re putting out a goddamn Amber Alert.”

“Is Natasha there?” Steve asked.

“She’s on her way.”

“Okay,” Steve said. “Okay, I’m gonna take the car out, alright? I’ll drive around the neighbourhood. Maybe she tried to walk home and got lost?”

“She lives a block away from the school!”

“I know,” Steve said patiently. “But you never know. Call me if anything changes.”

“Okay,” Bucky said distractedly. “Oh, Natasha’s here.”

“Good,” Steve started to say, but Bucky had already hung up. Steve shoved his phone into his pocket and pulled his shoes on.

He reached for the car keys, and saw Sergeant sitting expectantly next to where his leash was hung on the wall. Steve sighed and motioned for him to follow.

They went outside, Steve holding the back door of the car open so that Sergeant could jump in. He sat happily in the backseat.

Steve drove slowly around the neighbourhood. There were so many police and other cars around Bucky’s family’s house that he couldn’t even get close. Steve took a different route instead, going outside of town on a deserted highway. There was only one destination at the end of this highway, and nobody went down it if they didn’t have to. But Steve had an idea of where Rebecca might have gone, and he figured it was worth a shot.

 

Sure enough, he’d only been driving for about fifteen minutes when he saw someone walking up the side of the road. He pulled over, driving up behind her. He grabbed his phone and quickly texted Bucky.

Rebecca stopped walking and turned around warily, her eyes narrowing when she saw Steve get out of the car.

“What are _you_ doing here?” she said, scowling. Her hair was sweaty and mussed, falling half out of its careful braid. She was small for an eleven year old, and her bright pink backpack dwarfed her.

Steve shut the car door behind him. “Everybody’s looking for you, Rebecca.”

Rebecca scowled. “No they aren’t.”

Steve sighed. “Yeah, they are. Why would you assume they wouldn’t be?”

Rebecca shrugged. “They don’t care. I walked right out of school and no one even stopped me.”

“Okay,” Steve admitted. “That’s pretty bad.”

“Uh huh.”

“But,” Steve continued. “That doesn’t mean nobody cares. Your family is frantic right now. There are so many police cars around your house that I couldn’t even get near it.”

“Oh,” Rebecca said with a frown. “Well, that’s silly.”

She turned and started walking again. She was wearing a pair of plastic sandals, and Steve could see the blood running down her heels from the blisters they were causing.

Steve groaned and jogged after her. “Rebecca, where are you going?”

“None of your business.”

Steve sighed. “Why are you going to the jail?”

Rebecca froze, glancing at him over her shoulder. “How’d you know?”

“There’s only one thing at the end of this highway.”

Rebecca scowled and kept walking. “I’m going to see my dad. “

Steve winced. “Why, Rebecca?”

“I said, it’s none of your business!”

“It is my business now,” Steve said. He ran past her, turning around to face her again. She stopped in her tracks, frowning. “I have to make sure you’re safe, and that means it’s my business why you’re going to see him. Besides, the prison is miles and miles away still. Not to mention that they won’t just let you see him. You need permission, visitor’s passes…”

Rebecca shrugged. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Rebecca – “

“GO AWAY,” Rebecca suddenly shouted. She tightened her hands on her backpack straps. “I’m FINE. Leave me alone, I hate you!”

Steve just looked at her. “I can’t do that, Rebecca.”

“Yes you CAN,” she yelled. “I hate you, Steve! Everything was fine before Bucky met you!”

Steve’s shoulders slumped. “Rebecca, you know that’s not true.”

“It is!” she insisted. “Everybody was fine, and then you showed up and now my dad’s in jail and my mom works all the time and we never see Bucky and Ethan has to go to therapy every week and I have to share a room with Grace and I hate it and I hate you!”

“I’m sorry that you hate me,” Steve said, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice. “But I gotta take you back home. I’m sorry.”

“NO,” Rebecca shouted. “I’m going to go talk to my dad, and you can’t stop me!”

“Maybe you can talk to your mom about it,” Steve said desperately. “She might be able to take you some other time – “

“She won’t,” Rebecca said with another scowl. “She says I don’t need to see him. Says that it’s better for me.”

“I think she’s just trying to protect you,” Steve offered.

Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t need protecting. I need to talk to my dad.”

“Can you tell me why?” Steve asked. “I want to help you, Rebecca, I just genuinely don’t understand.”

Rebecca looked away. “I need to tell him something.”

“Tell him what?” Steve asked as gently as he could.

Rebecca stared at the ground and mumbled something.

“Sorry?” Steve said.

“I said,” Rebecca told him. “That I need to tell him that it was my fault.”

Steve’s heart sank. “That what was your fault?”

Rebecca scuffed her foot against the dirt. “What happened. It was my fault. Bucky told me to stop running around but I did it anyway, and then I broke the vase. But Bucky told Dad that it wasn’t my fault, and then Dad got mad at him instead.”

“Rebecca,” Steve said slowly. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“It WAS,” Rebecca insisted. “And they started fighting and then Dad got angry and I’m supposed to protect Grace when that happens. So I took her and Ethan and went upstairs and I locked her in her room, and Ethan stayed with her because she was scared. And then I went back but Bucky was lying on the floor and he wouldn’t wake up, and Dad was yelling at him and I tried to help but Dad told me to go away. But then Bucky got up but he couldn’t walk properly and then Dad told him to leave and so he did, and then Dad told me to clean up the mess before Mom got home. And I tried but there was so much blood everywhere and glass and I couldn’t get the carpet clean - ”

Rebecca paused, tears starting to leak out of her eyes. She rubbed at them furiously.

“And then Mom got home and she and Dad fought for hours and we didn’t see Bucky for weeks and weeks and it was horrible and so now I’m going to go explain to Dad that it was all my fault.”

Steve desperately wished that someone else was here to help him with this. He had no idea what to do.

“Rebecca, no,” Steve said desperately. “It’s not… listen to me, okay? None of that was your fault. None of it. What your dad did was wrong, and it was horrible and I’m sorry you had to see it. I’m sorry that it happened at all. That’s why he’s in jail, Rebecca. Because he hurt Bucky very badly, and he hurt the rest of you too. What happened between him and Bucky would’ve happened if you hadn’t broken the vase, okay?”

Rebecca rubbed at her face again. All it managed to do was get tears all over her face. “I… I just wanted to talk to him, I just wanted to explain…”

“Even if you do talk to him,” Steve said carefully. “It won’t get him out of jail. Hurting someone the way he hurt Bucky is illegal. I’m sorry, Rebecca, but he should have been in jail a long time ago. He was hurting your mom, too. And Ethan.”

“I KNOW,” Rebecca shouted. She started to cry now, sobs shaking her thin chest. “I know what he did was wrong, I just…”

“I know,” Steve said. “It’s hard, and it’s awful.”

Rebecca covered her face with her sleeve. “I don’t wanna go home.”

“Why?” Steve asked. “Your family’s really worried.”

“They don’t care,” Rebecca said again. “Mom never notices me, and Ethan has his new friends on the soccer team. Bucky likes Grace better than me anyway. Everybody does.”

“What?” Steve said, genuinely surprised. “That’s not true.”

“Yes it is,” Rebecca mumbled. “It’s okay, I understand it. She’s cute and nice and funny. Everybody likes her more.”

“Bucky doesn’t like Grace more than you,” Steve said firmly. “He cares about all of you more than anything else in the entire world. Nothing is more important to him than you are.”

Rebecca shook her head. “You’re more important to him.”

Steve sighed. “That’s a little different. I’m important to him in a different way.”

Rebecca finally lifted her head. “He lives with you now, though. Not with us anymore.”

“That’s what’s best for him right now,” Steve said gently. “He misses you guys so much, though. He loves seeing you.”

Rebecca stared at the ground again. “Is he gonna be mad at me? Because I ran away?”

“Um,” Steve said. “He’ll be upset, I think, but he won’t be mad. He’s just worried, because he cares about you. He doesn’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I’m just walking,” Rebecca said. “I’m not going to get hurt.”

“This is a dangerous highway,” Steve said hurriedly. “Even I wouldn’t want to walk out here on my own.”

Rebecca shrugged again.

Steve’s phone buzzed in his pocket again. “Rebecca,” he said carefully. “Do you wanna come back in the car with me?”

Rebecca turned to look at the car, parked back down the highway. “Is Sergeant with you?”

“Yep,” Steve said. “He’s in the backseat. You can sit with him, if you want.”

Rebecca’s shoulders slumped, but she turned and started walking back to the car. Steve pulled his phone out of his pocket and followed her, texting as he walked.

_Got her. Coming back now_

He helped Rebecca into the backseat. She carefully set her backpack next to her, and then reached out and gently patted Sergeant on the head. He licked her hand and then laid down, resting his head in her lap.

Steve got into the front seat and pulled the car back onto the highway. Rebecca was quiet in the backseat, stroking Sergeant’s head.

“Why does he have scars?” she asked after a few minutes.

“We don’t know,” Steve said. “But his last owner, whoever he was, didn’t treat him very well. We think that’s where he got them from.”

“He’s happy though now, right?” she asked.

“Yep,” Steve said. “I think he looks pretty happy.”

Sergeant snuffed and snuggled into Rebecca’s side.

 

Steve had to park two streets away and walk over to the house. Rebecca held Sergeant’s leash as they walked, a frown still plastered on her face.

They made their way through the crowd. Winifred Barnes was standing on the lawn, talking to a group of police officers. She pushed them all out of the way when she saw Rebecca, shoving her way through the crowd to get to her.

They were swarmed by people. Rebecca was pulled away from Sergeant, and the dog pressed close to Steve’s leg. He got anxious in crowds, and so Steve gently led him away from the house. He walked a few houses down and sat on the curb, Sergeant sitting next to him.

Bucky stumbled up to them a few minutes later. His hands were in his pockets, and his shoulders were hunched.

“Thanks for bringing her back,” he said tiredly. He sat down next to Steve, Sergeant immediately trying to climb into his lap. “Where was she?”

Steve sighed. “She was trying to walk to the jail. To see your dad.”

Bucky stared at him for a long moment, and then groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “Why would she _do_ that?”

Steve winced. “She, um… she wanted to tell him that it was her fault. About the vase. Not yours.”

“Jesus Christ,” Bucky muttered. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

“I know,” Steve said. “I’m sorry. This sucks.”

“Don’t apologize,” Bucky said into his hands. “And yeah. It does.”

Steve was quiet for a moment.

“You gonna stay here tonight?” Steve asked, gesturing to Bucky’s mom’s house.

“I guess I should,” Bucky mumbled.

“You don’t have to.”

“But I feel like I should go talk to Rebecca.”

Steve sighed. “You don’t have to do it tonight, though. Give everyone a chance to calm down a little. You can go see her tomorrow.”

He didn’t want to mention how pale Bucky was starting to look. He also had long since learned the little mannerisms Bucky did when his headache was starting to get worse. He was doing them now, rubbing at his forehead with his fingertips and closing his eyes.

“But…” Bucky said slowly.

“Your mom can handle it for one night,” Steve said gently. “Let’s go get some sleep. We can come back here tomorrow.”

Bucky groaned, but let Steve pull him to his feet. They started for home, Sergeant somehow managing to continuously trip both of them as they walked.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! I can't believe there are still people reading these, and I appreciate it so much. Please let me know what you think! 
> 
> I am [here](http://cameronwolfe.tumblr.com)


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